PAYDAY™ The Heist

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Very Positive · 93%Very Positive · 93%2011

The verdict

A gritty, punishing co-op heist shooter with great atmosphere and music, but few heists and a nearly dead online scene. Skip it if you play solo or want variety.

Great for

Co-op players with friends who want a harder, grounded, cinematic Payday experience

Main risk

Few heists get repetitive fast, and bots are poor when you can't find a group

What players love

Grounded, tough, team-focused gameplay

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“There is no weapon, upgrade, or equipment that will carry you to victory, only communication and tactics.”
Steam review · 33.5 h played ↗

“Each individual swat officer is dangerous and can put you in the ground if you're not careful.”
Steam review · 34.1 h played ↗

“Compared to Payday 2, positional play and coordinated team action matter much more here.”
Steam review · translated · 69.5 h played ↗

Cinematic atmosphere and great soundtrack

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews

“this game feels a lot like HEAT (1995): The Game”
Steam review · 1.7 h played ↗

“Simon Viklund's music makes adrenaline literally boil in your veins.”
Steam review · translated · 94 h played ↗

Fun co-op with friends

Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews

“Fun with a good crew, and impossible with a bad one.”
Steam review · 53.4 h played ↗

“When the alarms go off and everything goes to hell, it’s pure adrenaline — especially with friends.”
Steam review · 15.6 h played ↗

Cheap and runs on weak PCs

Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews

“Runs on weak 2016-era PCs.”
Steam review · translated · 38.9 h played ↗

“For $10, its one of the best games at that price point that i've ever played.”
Steam review · 52.1 h played ↗

Heisters' personality and immersion

Mentioned in ~1 in 17 positive reviews

“The Interactions between the heisters is something that really enhances the game.”
Steam review · 4.8 h played ↗

Satisfying gunplay and weapons

Mentioned in ~1 in 19 positive reviews

“the guns feel great to use and the heists are all incredibly fun to replay”
Steam review · 113.7 h played ↗

“The shooting is very pleasant and satisfying.”
Steam review · translated · 4.2 h played ↗

What players complain about

Payday 2 is better and includes these heists

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews

“it just isn't worth it and Payday 2 refines gameplay from The Heist anyway”
Steam review · 13.2 h played ↗

“better versions of all heists in this game are already in Payday 2”
Steam review · 4 h played ↗

“These heists are in the second game.”
Steam review · translated · 35.5 h played ↗

Too few heists, repetitive

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews

“you will have to repeat the same 5 maps over and over and over with little variation”
Steam review · 64.9 h played ↗

“Repetitive with same gameplay in missions over and over. Lack of maps and variety of missions.”
Steam review · 6 h played ↗

“The game is boring. It's enough for 2-3 days, then it gets tiresome.”
Steam review · translated · 11 h played ↗

Dead online, kicks and cheaters

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“whenever you join a game, you either get instantly kicked (out of completely nowhere mind you) or have to slog yourself around with hackers”
Steam review · 105.8 h played ↗

“Otherwise you'll be frustrated alone, hitting the server refresh button.”
Steam review · translated · 98.2 h played ↗

Unfair, spammy enemies

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“On the higher difficulty 145+ cops are literally shooting you through cover, hit registration is a joke.”
Steam review · 141.7 h played ↗

“It's just an endless spawner of police, SWAT and juggernauts.”
Steam review · translated · 7.1 h played ↗

Terrible AI teammates

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“This game has to have some of the worst partner A.I. I have ever seen”
Steam review · 1.3 h played ↗

“Otherwise its the god awful AI teammates since the games been dead for a while.”
Steam review · 144.1 h played ↗

Grindy progression and DLC paywall

Mentioned in ~1 in 11 negative reviews

“Awfully grindy and terrible artificial difficulty.”
Steam review · 3.2 h played ↗

“To play properly, buy another 250 DLC for the price of a kidney.”
Steam review · translated · 0.7 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Playable

Minimum

OSWindows XP, Vista, 7

ProcessorIntel Pentium 4 3 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 3400+

Memory1 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX / ATI Radeon X1900

Storage6 GB available space

Recommended

OSWindows XP, Vista, 7

ProcessorIntel Core 2 Duo / AMD Athlon X2

Memory2 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 / ATI Radeon HD 4850

Storage6 GB available space

OSWindows XP, Vista, 7

ProcessorIntel Pentium 4 3 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 3400+

Memory1 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX / ATI Radeon X1900

Storage6 GB available space

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